A spectroscopic study of group IV transition metal incorporated direct templated mesoporous catalysts Part 1: A comparison between materials synthesized using hydrophobic and hydrophilic Ti precursors

Titanium has been incorporated into mesoporous silica using novel one-pot p rocedures based on the true liquid crystal templating (TLCT) synthesis meth od. Two different Ti sources were used, one insoluble in water (titanocene dichloride) and the other completely soluble (titanium acetylacetonate). Th e nature of the metallic sites was investigated using diffuse reflectance U V-vis, photoluminescence and FT-IR spectroscopy. Some insight into the coor dination and position of optically active species within the silica mesostr ucture was gained by adsorption of oxygen and ammonia probe molecules. Our results point to a particularly simple and versatile means of functionalizi ng mesoporous silica for catalytic applications.